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Tag Archives: Sony PlayStation 4

Sony Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi believes that Gran Turismo 7 could be just around the corner, despite the fact that Gran Turismo 6 won’t be released until next week.

“We don’t want to take too long on Gran Turismo 7,” Yamauchi told the UK’s Top Gear. “Best case scenario? Next year.”

For a series known for taking its sweet time due to Yamauchi’s obsessively detail oriented direction, I sincerely doubt we’ll even get a sniff of GT7 by next year. GT5 was largely viewed as a disappointment, even by stalwart regulars of the series. I personally see the game as miles behind Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport, which has always felt vibrant and engaging where Gran Turismo, while certainly a collector’s dream, is an incredibly sterile experience.

But if Polyphony can get GT7 onto the PS4 by next year, it would be an impressive achievement. The PS4 could certainly use an exclusive racer, with DriveClub delayed until spring, Sony must be pushing Polyphony to release something in the immediate future. Sony has long held Gran Turismo as one of its key franchises dating back to the original PlayStation. With the tenuous life Gran Turismo had on the PS3 (GT HD Concept, GT Prologue, GT5, GT5 XL, GT6), a more focused effort is certainly in order for the franchise’s success on the PS4.

When word got out that accredited game reviewers would be receiving their PS4s from Sony, nobody really made a sound because there wasn’t much news about it. But when Sony gave game reviewers their PS4s at a special pre-launch event with piles of swag that included their newly and personally engraved PS4, the internet exploded.

Cries against reviewers for letting their ethics be compromised because by accepting these gifts they were essentially selling their opinion for a custom engraving.

But let’s think about this for longer than it takes to pound out three poorly written sentences with an abundance of obscenities and exclamation points (!!!!!).

To me, the outrage is less about the integrity of video game journalism, or in this case, opinionated editorial, and more about the fact that a select group of gaming writers were invited to a media only event, given some free swag and given their (media designated) PlayStation 4 console. In essence, the public is angry that game reviewers received their shiny new (and custom engraved) PS4s free and early.

But did they really receive these units for free? How much actual work goes in to writing a review? Truth is, a lot.

I was news and editorials editor for my college’s newspaper, which was not a volunteer position, it was paid. Not only are you drafting, editing and retooling your own work, often you still have other tasks to oversee including story meetings, features development, video production and in my case, working on simultaneously churning out articles for print (where length of article is critical) and developing for web. Add in the time needed to properly play and review a game, notes in hand and reviewing takes a significant amount of work (and lost sleep).

Believe me, after years of climbing the ladders of their respective publications, these writers and reviewers have certainly paid for their consoles. Maybe not in money, but in absolute hard work. Because as much fun and challenges journalism brings, it has never been a lucrative career. And gaming is an expensive hobby.

Unfortunately, what sparked the initial discussion is that many of these reviewers took to social media or their own blogs at the publications and shared pictures of their new engraved PS4s, the stack of games and a pile of swag. They should have known better than to put themselves at the disadvantage of having their ethics challenged, their biases shifted and their audience questioning any positive review of a Sony product for the lifespan of the PS4. It certainly doesn’t help having editorial staff snap a picture of themselves bedding a console.

I understand where they are coming from however. At the end of the day, they’re like you and I. They are gamers who are in the fortunate position to be doing what they love, with all the perks. It is certainly an advantageous and enviable position to be in.

Ethics and media is something I’ve always followed very closely. Sure I’ve attended my share of early screenings for films which I would immediately turn out a review for. Hell, my office even received copies of the sixth Harry Potter movie for review, which we all watched in our office one night prior to publication day. But at the end of the day, these are tools that are necessary for the job that we did. Likewise, if game reviewers did not have a PS4, they would not be able to review any games. Games that Sony wants to have reviewed

At the end of the day, I believe a good reviewer is able to filter though the BS, and review a product accordingly. Because if they don’t, the audience will find a way to call you out on it.

They are not gifts. They are not handouts. They have been earned. Everything except a little engraving (which is admittedly cool).

Launches are a tricky thing, Sony might be learning that first hand after the slew of poor reviews for their supposed system sellers Killzone: Shadowfall and Knack. Lucky for them, help is around the corner. The Sucker Punch developed inFamous: Second Son will be launching for the PlayStation 4 on March 21, 2014.

The third game in the inFamous series has had fans chomping at the bit to know when the new entry (and first to not feature original protagonist Cole McGrath) would be due, since it wasn’t ready for launch day. Early rumors of a February release date have since been squashed but a nifty bundle of a new PS4 system and a copy of inFamous: Second Son has surfaced on varying online storefronts.

I’m still playing through the original inFamous, but I believe it might be Sony’s most underrated and a critical franchise to develop for their PS4. It’s slick combination of stylized mechanics and comic inspired storytelling are like no other franchise and Sony would be wise to push it with Microsoft’s Titanfall breathing down their neck.

It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. Naughty Dog formally pulled back the curtain on a Uncharted with a teaser trailer for their (obviously) PS4 exclusive. While no gameplay or really much of anything were revealed in the minute long trailer, we can safely ascertain there should be exploring, map reading and possibly Madagascar.

In all seriousness however, the trailer doesn’t feature Nolan North narrating, so until the next tidbits come out, I will be speculating as to whom the mystery narrator is. Rumors have been swirling around the project that Nathan Drake may not even by the central protagonist and the tone of the teaser is certainly darker than previous entries.

But whatever date the new Uncharted comes out, I will have my PS4 by then.

With Sony’s PlayStation 4 set to launch in North America in less than 12 hours, the first slew of reviews have been trickling out in anticipation for the launch fervor. While there was enough to be said about cross-platform performance of third party titles that are certain to sell well like Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Sony’s media embargoes have limited the pre-launch coverage for their in-house titles.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the titles slated to get the most attention for launch will be the FPS Killzone: Shadowfall, action platformer Knack and retro shooter Resogun (especially with DriveClub off the table). But it seems that at least two of these exclusives are not leaping out of the gates.

Killzone: Shadowfall is the most recognizable product that Sony is offering at launch and the title currently holds a middling Metacritic score of 74. Veteran review sites have delivered a varying range of scores to the new entry to the Human vs Helghast shooter, from Destructoid’s solid 90 to Polygon’s scathing 5/10. I have played all the core titles in the series, starting from the original outing on the PlayStation 2, and have maintained that Killzone will never be the Halo killer that Sony wants it to be. The original Killzone had good ideas but was on an underpowered machine and was clunky in its execution. Killzone 2 cleaned up much of these flaws and was a very good game, but Killzone 3 brought the series to a very mediocre point. It seems that Shadowfall, with its new story, is struggling to distinguish itself from its predecessors.

Knack is getting plastered in reviews, with an Metacritic aggregate of 59. While Knack is certainly visually appealing, it feels like a title that Sony pushed forward to hit all the corresponding metrics. They clearly felt the need for a family friendly platformer, and Knack was held to that standard. A standard that appears to be lacking. Visuals alone don’t make the next Super Mario 64 or even the next Rachet & Clank. Just remember, Kameo was considered by and large the prettiest launch game of the Xbox 360.

Lastly, I expected Resogun to be well received, but I didn’t expect it to be the headliner. A twin-stick shooter by the creators of Super Stardust HD, Resogun has the flashy visuals of classic efforts of Super Stardust and Geometry Wars, with the side scrolling mechanics that hearken back to Defender. The particle effect lightshow is dazzling reviews with a solid aggregate of 82.

I have maintained that despite the PlayStation 4’s lower price point and the guise of doing everything right pre-launch, Sony had yet to amaze me with their offerings from a software perspective. I still believe that Microsoft has the advantage especially with Forza Motorsport 5 at launch and Titanfall next spring. Sony had better hope InFamous: Second Son is a system seller or Microsoft might just catch up.